


To The Black

by amathela



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-30
Updated: 2007-10-30
Packaged: 2017-10-08 08:27:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/74635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amathela/pseuds/amathela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Helo doesn't mind being ECO.  And it has nothing at all to do with the pretty new recruit.  Seriously.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To The Black

**Author's Note:**

> Set pre-series; no spoilers.

"She's pretty."

"Huh?" Helo turned to look at Kara, a familiar smirk on her face.

"The new recruit. She's pretty."

"Sharon," Helo corrected without thinking. Kara's smirk widened, and he shook his head. "It's not like that."

"Why not?" she asked, and for a minute, he couldn't think of a reason.

"Fraternisation," he said finally. Unsurprisingly, Kara laughed.

"Yeah," she said, feigning a decent pretense of trying to get herself under control. "Okay."

"It's a rule," Helo insisted, but without much force.

Her hands skimming his bare chest reminded him just how weak his argument was. He pulled the towel a little tighter around his waist.

"It's a sham," she said, leaning a little closer. Close enough to make him uncomfortable; not close enough to be a genuine come-on. "It's not like we're doing anything out here. Nobody gives a damn about who's frakking who, and you know it."

Helo stepped back, and Kara smiled. "It's not like that," he repeated.

-

"Too many pilots," Kelly said; from where he was standing, Helo could see Sharon's face fall. "We'll have you in the air as soon as we can get you an ECO."

"I'll do it," Helo volunteered, almost surprising himself. Sharon turned to look at him, and he kept his expression deliberately neutral, focusing instead on the Captain.

"You're scheduled to fly," he said, and Helo shrugged.

"I don't mind. She needs the training."

Kelly seemed to be weighing his offer, but eventually he nodded. "All right. Valerii, you're good to go."

"Thank you," Sharon said, once they were inside the Raptor. She looked nervous, but her hands flicked confidently across the controls, and Helo smiled.

"No problem," he said, and when his eyes met hers, he told himself he would have done the same for any new recruit.

"So," she said, as they were cleared for launch. "Here goes nothing, I guess."

-

"What the frak was that?"

Helo could hear the Chief's voice loud and clear as he stepped down from the Raptor, and he winced a little. Sure, the landing hadn't been perfect, but it wasn't like she had a lot of experience; he didn't fancy trying to explain that to the Chief, though, who was probably already calculating the repairs he'd need to make.

"That wasn't me," Sharon protested, climbing out behind him. Helo resisted the urge to offer her his hand. "There's something wrong with the primary gimbal."

"There is now," Tyrol said, his gaze intent on the Raptor as Sharon stood beside him. "It's going to take me a day to fix this."

"So it'll be ready for my next flight," Sharon said, her voice unconcerned.

The Chief shook his head as she walked away. "Frakking pilots," Helo heard him mutter.

-

"All colours," Kara said, laying down her cards. Across from her, Gaeta shook his head, and Helo smiled.

"Never bet against Starbuck when she's on a roll," he said. He had lost a couple of cubits; nothing he couldn't win back when she wasn't at the table.

"Hey, Boomer," Kara yelled out, and Helo turned. Sharon was standing over by another table, talking to the Chief. They were standing pretty close, their voices lowered, and Helo hoped Tyrol wasn't still giving her grief about her landing. "Want to sit in?"

Sharon smiled, and came over to sit beside Helo; he caught her eye, and moved his chair over so she could fit.

"You were pretty good out there today," Kara said, and Sharon smiled a little more. "Stiffed the landing, though."

Sharon shrugged. "It'll get better."

"You like having Helo as your ECO?"

Helo shot Kara a warning look. She smiled; she hadn't missed it.

"You missed out on some good flying out there," she told him.

He shrugged. "I like navigating."

Kara snorted. Sharon, thankfully oblivious to the tension, lay down her bet. Helo called when Kara raised; another four cubits he was going to have to win back.

She looked at him with a challenge in her eyes the next round, and he folded. He sat back as she raked in the pot.

"So," she said, evidently unable - or unwilling - to let the matter drop. "You going to navigate Boomer's next flight?"

Helo just smiled. "Why not?"


End file.
